1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to sliders for slide fasteners, more particularly a pair of sliders incorporating lock mechanisms to lock themselves together on a slide fastener applied to garment articles.
2. Prior Art
Slide fasteners have heretofore have found wide application on a variety of garment articles such as clothing, bags, tents, suitcases and the like. There were many instances where sliders were used desirably in a pair on a single fastener, in which instance they were locked together immediately upon head-on coupling and unlocked with use of a change key or a dial combination. A typical example of such paired slider lock is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 54-35764 in which one of the sliders is provided at its front end with a plug member engageable with a socket member in the other slider having a lock pin operatively associated with a latch or lock tumbler and engageable with the plug member for locking the two sliders together which can be unlocked or separated by the use of a change key.
With a slide fastener used on a bag or suitcase in transit, it is not always necessary to lock its sliders but it is rather preferred to keep the sliders coupled together without being fully locked The aforementioned prior art slider lock is not suitable for such application because the two sliders become automatically locked immediately upon being interengaged. If the sliders were drawn toward each other closely but halfway of their lock position, they would tend to move out of place to inadvertently open the fastener.